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YouTube Banner Templates
Channel art at 2560 × 1440 pixels with the safe area drawn, because this is the one social size where the file you upload and the area anybody sees are wildly different shapes.
No templates match that.
Upload 2560 × 1440, design for 1546 × 423
YouTube uses the same image on a phone, a tablet, a desktop and a television, and it crops differently for each. The only region guaranteed to be visible everywhere is 1546 × 423 pixels, centered.
That is a third of the width and under a third of the height of the file you upload. Everything outside it is real — a television shows nearly all of it — but nothing outside it can be relied on.
So the channel name, the logo and any schedule text go in that central band, and the rest of the 2560 × 1440 is atmosphere: color, texture, a photograph that extends outward. The template draws the band so you are not guessing.
The most common mistake is a centered logo that is too big
Designers see a 2560-wide canvas and scale the logo to it. On a phone, the visible slice is 1546 wide and the logo fills it entirely, leaving no room for anything else and often cropping its own edges.
Size the logo against the safe area, not against the canvas. If it looks small on your screen at full size, that is correct.
Do not put a schedule on it unless you keep it
"New videos every Tuesday" on a banner is a promise displayed permanently, and the commonest thing a channel stops doing without updating the art. If the schedule is real and stable, it is genuinely useful; if it is aspirational, leave it off.
Questions
What size is a YouTube banner?
2560 × 1440 pixels to upload. The safe area — the part visible on every device — is 1546 × 423 in the center.
Why does my banner look different on my phone and my TV?
Because YouTube crops it differently for each. The phone shows the central band, a television shows almost the whole image. Only the central 1546 × 423 is guaranteed everywhere.
What should go in the safe area?
The channel name, the logo, and anything else that has to be read. Everything outside it is decoration you cannot count on.
Is there a file size limit?
Yes, 6 MB. Export JPG for photographic banners; a 2560-wide PNG can exceed the limit.
Is this the same as a thumbnail?
No. A thumbnail is 1280 × 720 and has its own page — YouTube thumbnail templates.
Can I use these commercially?
Yes, including on a monetized channel and for clients. No royalty, no credit, and the permission does not expire. That is true on the free plan as well as the paid one.